Tobacco hanger



Sept. 13, 1955 Filed May 6, 1952 G. A. WILSON TOBACCO HANGER 5 Sheets-Sheet l Fig.4 /a

a Gene A. Wilson INVENTOR.

B-Y Wynn; 19m

G. A. WILSON TOBACCO HANGER Sept. 13, 1955 3 Sheets heat 2 Fig. 2

Filed May 6, 1952 Gene A. Wilson IN VEN TOR.

7 Y 8mm G. A. WILSON TOBACCO HANGER Sept. 13, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 6, 1952 Fig. 3

Fig-5 2 n. m R m mm. .Am 3 m 6 Z Y B m F 2 0 4 Z 2 m 4 H nd- 9 6T1- p 2 w$B9HH|P 0 8 United States Patent TOBACCQ HANGER Gene A. Wilson, Vanceburg, Ky.

Application May 6, 1952, Serial No. 286,247

6 Claims. (Ci. 21416) This invention relates to a tobacco hanger and particularly to a frame of bents for receiving tobacco sticks and hanging the same without the necessity of climbing into the bents.

In the harvesting and curing of tobacco the tobacco is first cut in the field and placed on sticks where it is field wilted to reduce its fragile nature after which it is loaded on wagons and carried to the tobacco barns where it is hung to dry and cure. The typical tobacco barn is constructed of so-called bents or arrangement of horizontal rails in spaced vertical relation so that the tobacco sticks will rest on the rails and the bents are sufficiently long that there is clearance between the end of the tobacco and the top of the tobacco in the bent below. The process of transferring the tobacco sticks from the wagon into the bents has heretofore required much strenuous and dangerous labor. It has heretofore been necessary for the operator to climb into the bents and have the sticks of tobacco handed to him so that he could place them on the rails. Not only is this strenuous labor, frequently requiring more than one person to successfully accomplish but many operators have been injured by falling from the bents.

The present invention provides a means for mechanically raising tobacco sticks into the various bents of the barn and for mechanically receiving and depositing the rails plus the tobacco sticks at various levels without the necessity of climbing into the bents or manually handling the tobacco other than to put the sticks on the rails on a lifting rack.

The construction according to the invention comprises a plurality of tiers or frames extending vertically in the barn and having horizontal plates defining the bents with the plates having a movable and a fixed member so that the movable member may be projected inwardly from the fixed member to provide a plate to receive the rails on which the tobacco sticks are mounted. An elevator rack is mounted in the tier and is provided with lifting cables so that it may be traversed vertically within the tier so that loaded rails may be lifted up or down as desired. The bent rails are provided with adjusting means so that they may be adjusted into or out of receiving position for the rails from the ground and it will only be necessary for the operator to climb into the tier when it is desirable to rearrange the ropes or to do repair work therein.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved tobacco hanger.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tobacco hanger that can be operated from the ground.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a tobacco hanger in which the tobacco may be placed on rails and the rails elevated and left in fixed position in the hanger.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an elevator rack which can be used in a plurality of tiers.

It is a further object of the invention to provide rail "ice receiving plates which can be adjusted into or out of receiving position.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a means for positioning a plate in contact with a tobacco stick receiving rail.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the tobacco hanger;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through the hanger taken substantially on the plane indicated by the line 2--2 of Figure 1 and showing the manner of supporting the rails therein; 7

Figure 3 is a cross-section through the hanger taken substantially on the plane indicated by the line 33 of Figure 2 and showing the rack in position to receive hanger rails and the tobacco sticks thereon;

Figure 4 is an enlarged elevation of the top bent of the tier showing the mounting of the elevating sheaves together with the position of .the guide tracks and the operation of the bent plates;

Figure 5 is an enlarged view showing the adjustable rack sides and taken substantially on the plane iridicated by the line 55 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-section of the folding bent plate and the operating means therefor.

in the exemplary embodiment according to the invention, the frames or tiers are constructed of a plurality of upright timbers 10 arranged in vertical formation within a shed or barn 12. The upright members 10 are provided with feet or sills 14 and are provided with top plates 16 which are tied together by cross plates 18 and have supported thereon transverse supporting members 20. The individual tiers may of course be of any desired shape but are preferably rectangular and in many instances it is desirable to make the tiers square so that the rails may be positioned in either direction therein.

The tiers are divided into bents by means of horizontally disposed plates connected to the uprights 10. Each of the plates have a fixed outer member 22 and a movable inner member 24. The inner member is connected to the outer member by means of hinges 26. When the tiers are of substantially square formation the adjustable plates will be provided on all four sides so that rails may be positioned in either direction therein. However, when the rectangular tier is utilized having more than two widths of tobacco sticks therein it will usually be desirable to put the rails the short way across the tier and therefore the inner plates may be omitted on the various ends of the bents. However the rack comprises oppositely disposed pairs of side bars 28 and 30 and end bars 32 and 34 for receiving tobacco stick receiving rails 36 on which are mounted the'tobacco sticks 38 which receive the tobacco plants 4d. Each of the side bars 28 to 34 is provided with an adjustable means preferably including tubular members 42 and 44 having a telescoping core 46 secured to the members 42 and 44 by adjustable pins 48-and 50. Obviously, by moving the pins 48 and 50 in various of the apertures 52 in the telescoping core 46 the length of the members 28 to 34 may be adjusted to fit properly within the various tiers in which the rack may be used.

The rack is provided with corner eyes 54 to which are connected cables 56 for lifting the rack upwardly through the tier. For this purpose the supporting members 20 are provided with sheaves 60 and 62 arranged directly above the corners of each side of the rack and a pair of drums 64 and 66 are mounted on a shaft 68 journaled on hanger 70 and bearing a sheave 72 over which is entrained a belt 74 on a sheave 76 of a motor 78. It being noted that there are four cables 56 extending from the drums 64 and 66 to the four corners of the rack so that the rack will be lifted upwardly through the tier or frame substantially level. In order to maintain the rack in predetermined relation to the vertical members and the bent plates guide tracks 86 and 82 are provided at opposed sides of the tier and secured in spaced relation to the plates 22 and 24 so that the movable section 24 of the plate will have room to move between the fixed section 22 and the guide track 82. Guide yokes 84 are mounted on the side bars of the rack and engage the guide tracks 80 and 82. To reduce the friction between the yoke 84 and the tracks 80 and 82 the yokes are each provided with a front roller 86 and side rollers 38 and 9b which snugly engage the front and sides of the tracks 80 and 82 so that the rack is firmly maintained at a predetermined spaced relation to the sides of the tier and to the bent plates.

In order to control the movable or inner bent plate 24 an eye 92 is secured to the outer edge of the movable portion or inner portion of the bent plate 24 which would be uppermost when the inner member 24 is folded over on top or overlying the fixed member 22. A pair of actuacting members such as the flexible cords 94 and 96 are attached to the eye 92 and extend to the position whereby they can be reached from the bottom of the structure. One of the members such as 96 is entrained over a sheave 98 mounted above and spaced from the fixed member 22 so that tension on the actuating member 96 will cause the plate 24 to move upwardly and outwardly onto the top of the plate 22 and the actauting member 94 extends downwardly on the inside of the plates 22 and 24 so that tension on the actuating member 94 will cause the inner plate member 24 to rotate about the hinge 26 into laterally or an inwardly extending relation with respect to the fixed plate member 22. Stub studs 1% are secured to the uprights 10 so that the ends of the inner extending plate member 24 may rest thereon and be securely supported thereagainst as well as being supported against the face of the fixed member 22 by means of a hinge 26. The main purpose of the stub studs 100 is to relieve the pressure on the hinges.

In order to locate the tobacco stick receiving rails 36 with respect to the elevator rack they are preferably provided adjacent the ends thereof with lugs 104 which snugly fit over the side bars 28 to 34 and properly positioned thereover with respect to the rack. The length of the rails 36 being just suflicient to readily clear the bent plates when the inner portions are folded in overlying position to the outer portions but of suificient length that when the inner portions are folded into laterally extending relation to the outer member 22 the ends of the rails 36 will rest upon and be supported by the inwardly extending plates.

In the operation of the device the rack is raised above the ground by means of the cables 56 to a sufficient height that it is convenient to work on. The rails 36 are then placed in position with the lugs 104 engaging the side bars of the rack and the sticks 38 loaded with tobacco stocks 40 placed on the rails 36 in properly spaced relation to each other. For conveniently locating the sticks 38 with respect to the rails 36 so that the end of the rails will be sure to clear the bent plates a batter board or other convenient gaging device may be mounted on or adjacent to the rack so that the ends of the sticks 33 cannot protrude into the space occupied by the bent plates. When the rack has been loaded with tobacco the motor 78 will be started to wind up the cables 56 and lift the rack above the topmost bent plates 22 and 24 at which time the actuating members 94 of the top bent plates will be operated to move the inner bent plates 24 into inwardly extending lateral relation with respect to the fixed bent plates 22 after which the direction of rotation of the motor will be reversed to lower the ends of the rails 36 onto the plates 24 and leave the rails 36 suspended thereon while the rack continues down to receive another load. In this manner it is possible for a single individual working on the ground to fill a complete tier from top to bottom without the necessity of climbing into the tier. When the tier is square as has been shown, obviously, the plates may be placed on all four sides and the rails 36 may be placed in either direction so that alternate layers may have the rails spaced in opposite directions as shown in Figure 2. Obviously, the tier may be of rectangular formation so that more than two rows of sticks may be placed thereacross in which case normally the bent plates would be placed only to receive the rails 36 placed in the shortest cross direction.

It will be obvious that the tier will be filled from the top with successive bents being filled until the tier is completely filled after which the rack may be removed to another tier in the same or another barn. If the operating ropes 56 are allowed to remain in each tier then it will never be necessary to climb into the tier, all the operations may be made from the ground. However, if it is necessary to move the ropes from tier to tier it may be necessary to climb the tiers in order to entrain the ropes over the various sheaves 6t) and 62. Obviously the rack may be separable so that the various side bars may be moved one at the time so that a single individual may move the racks from tier as is necessary so that the device becomes a complete one man operation.

In removing the tobacco from the bents the rack is placed in position and raised until the rails are removed from the bent plates after which the actuating members 9'6 are energized to flip the inwardly extending member 24 on top of the fixed member 22 to release the end of the rails after which the motor will be reversed and allow the rack and the rails to be lowered into operating reach of the ground.

It will thus be apparent that the present invention has provided a tobacco hanger in which one man may safely house a large quantity of tobacco without the necessity of climbing into the tiers or operating in the bents so that there is little danger of injury to the operator while storing the tobacco. The utilization of this hanger will allow one man to house a tobacco crop at a time when labor is extremely scarce and otherwise the tobacco crop might be ruined because of the lack of labor.

For purpose of exemplification a particular embodimerit of the invention has been shown and described according to the best present understanding thereof. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the true spirit of the invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A tobacco hanger comprising a frame, said frame including a plurality of upright members arranged in substantially rectangular formation, a plurality of horizontally arranged vertically spaced groups of plates providing a plurality of bents in said farme, each of said plates including an outer fixed member and an inner member, hinges securing said inner and outer members together, said inner member being rotatable about said hinges, said inner member being adjustable into an inwardly extending lateral position or an upwardly retracted overlying position with respect to said outer member, an elevator rack, means for moving said rack vertically in said frame, tobacco stick supporting rails supported on and overhanging said elevator rack, said elevator rack and said rails being movable vertically past the retracted inner members, said rails being deposited on the inner members by lowering said elevator rack past the extended inner members so that the overhanging portions of said rails will be engaged by said extended inner members to thereby transfer said rails from said elevator rack to said plates.

2. A tobacco hanger comprising a frame, said frame including a plurality of upright members arranged in substantially rectangular formation, a plurality of horizontally arranged vertically spaced groups of plates providing a plurality of bents in said frame, each of said plates including an outer fixed member and an inner member, hinges securing said inner and outer members together, said inner member being adjustable into an inwardly extending lateral position or an upwardly retracting overlying position with respect to said outer member, an elevator rack, means for moving said elevator rack vertically in said frame, tobacco stick supporting rails adapted to be supported on and overhanging said elevator rack, said elevator rack and said rails being movable vertically past the retracted inner members, said rails being deposited on the inner members by lowering said elevator rack past the extended inner members whereby the overhanging portions of said rails will be engaged by said extended inner members to thereby transfer said rails from said elevator rack to said plate, lateral, vertical guide tracks mounted in said frame, guides on said rack contacting said tracks to position said rack with respect to said plates.

3. A tobacco hanger comprising a frame, said frame including a plurality of upright members arranged in substantially rectangular formation, a plurality of horizontally arranged vertically spaced groups of plates providing a plurality of bents in said frame, each of said plates including an outer fixed member and an inner member, hinges securing said inner and outer members together, said inner member being adjustable into an inwardly extending lateral position or an upwardly retracted overlying position with respect to said outer member, an elevator rack, means for moving said elevator rack vertically in said frame, tobacco stick supporting rails adapted to be supported on and overhanging said elevator rack, said elevator rack and said rails being movable vertically past the retracted inner members, said rails being deposited on the inner members by lowering said elevator rack past the extended inner members so that the overhanging portions of said rails will be engaged by said extended inner members to thereby transfer said rails from said elevator rack tosaid plates, vertical guide tracks mounted in said frame, guides on said rack contacting said tracks to position said rack with respect to said plates, a pair of actuating members attached to each of said inner members.

4. A tobacco hanger comprising a frame, said frame including a plurality of upright members arranged in substantially rectangular formation, a plurality of horizontally arranged vertically spaced groups of plates providing a plurality of bents in said frame, each of said plates including an outer fixed member and an inner member, hinge-s securing said inner and outer members together, said inner member being adjustable into an inwardly extending lateral position or an upwardly retracted overlying position with respect tosaid outer member, an elevator rack, means for moving said elevator rack vertically in said frame, tobacco stick supporting rails adapted to be supported on and overhanging said elevator rack, said elevator rack and said rails being movable vertically past the retracted inner members, said rails being deposited on the inner members by lowering said elevator rack past the extended inner members so that the overhanging portions of said rails will be engaged by said extended inner members to thereby transfer said rails from said elevator rack to said plates, vertical guide tracks mounted in said frame, guides on said rack contacting said tracks to position said rack with respect to said plates, a pair of actuating members attached to each till of said inner members, one of said actuating members being a flexible member, a sheave mounted above said outer member, said flexible member being entrained over said sheave.

5. A tobacco hanger comprising a frame, said frame including a plurality of upright members arranged in substantially rectangular formation, a plurality of horizontally arranged vertically spaced groups of plates providing a plurality of bents in said frame, each of said plates including an outer fixed member and an inner member, hinges securing said inner and outer members together, said inner member being adjustable into an inwardly extending lateral position or an upwardly retracted overlying position with respect to said outer member, an elevator rack, means for moving said elevator rack vertically in said frame, tobacco stick supporting rails adapted to be supported on and overhanging said elevator rack, said elevator rack and said rails being movable vertically past the retracted inner members, said rails being deposited on the inner members by lowering siad elevator rack past the extended inner members so that the overhanging portions of said rails will be engaged by said extended inner members to thereby transfer said rails from said elevator rack tosaid plates, vertical guide tracks mounted in said frame, guides on said rack contacting said tracks to position said rack with respect to said plates, a pair of actuating members attached to each of said inner members, one of said actuating members being a flexible member, a sheave mounted above said outer member, said flexible member being entrained over said sheave, telescoping side members on said rack for adjusting the rack to the frame.

6. A tobacco hanger comprising an upright frame, said frame including a plurality of upright members arranged in substantially rectangular formation, a plurality of horizontally arranged vertically spaced groups of plates providing a plurality of bents in said frame, each of said plates including an outer member fixed on said upright members and an inner member, hinges securing said inner member on said outer members, each of said inner members being rotatable about said hinges into a lateral inwardly extending relation with respect to said outer member or into an upwardly extending overlying position with respect to said outer member, an elevator rack, means operable to move said elevator rack vertically in said frame, tobacco stick supporting rails supported on said elevator rack in tobacco stick receiving relation, the ends of said rails overhanging said elevator rack, said elevator rack and the supported rails being vertically movable past the retracted inner member, said rails being deposited on said inner members by lowering said elevator rack past the extended inner members so that said overhanging end of said rails will be engaged by said extended inner member to thereby transfer said rails from said elevator rack to said plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 179,921 Hope July 18, 1876 322,330 Snow July 14, 1885 1,236,648 Alvey Aug. 14, 1917 2,247,144 Baldwin June 24, 1941 2,451,368 White et al Oct. 12, 1948 2,579,681 Leitner Dec. 25. 1951 

